Servicing tire assemblies used on large vehicles such as trucks, tractors, trailers, buses and off-road machines is generally regarded as dangerous work. Tire assemblies, whether multi-piece or single-piece, include a tire mounted on a rim or wheel, as well as various other wheel components, which are inflated to great pressure for use. However, during inflation, an improperly assembled or damaged tire and wheel may separate from each other with violent force, which may cause substantial injury to those that are nearby. As a result, retention devices have been developed that provide a barrier between the tire and wheel of a tire assembly and the service technician and other individuals who are nearby. Such retention devices typically include a cage formed as an assembly of bars that are attached to a base, as well as various other components that are configured to retain the tire assembly in the event of an explosive separation of the tire and wheel or sudden release of air from the tire assembly. Thus, due to the necessity of inflating tires, such retention devices or tire inflation cages are in widespread use.
In order to position a tire assembly within a tire inflation cage, a technician rolls an upstanding tire assembly into a space defined within the bars or retention members of the cage. Tire inflation cages also include tire stops upon their base that prevent the tire assembly from rolling out of the cage once the tire assembly is positioned, so that a portion of the tire assembly rests on the base of the cage between the tire stops. Furthermore, the tire stops are of such a dimension to allow a technician to roll a tire assembly over them as he or she positions the tire assembly within the tire inflation cage, while preventing the tire assembly from rolling out of the cage.
Once the tire assembly is positioned in the tire inflation cage, it may be repositioned in order for the components of the tire assembly to be accessible to the service technician. For example, in some instances access to the valve stem of the tire assembly may be blocked by various portions of the tire inflation cage, including by its retention members or bars. In such instances, the tire assembly is typically rolled out of the tire inflation cage, moved around, and rolled back into the tire inflation cage with the intent that the valve stem or other component will then be accessible and not blocked by the cage. Once in position, an inflation device is attached to the valve stem to inflate the tire assembly to the desired pressure and then removed from the tire inflation cage for mounting to a vehicle. However, during this tire inflation process, the tire can explode, causing it to break up into fragments, and/or the wheel may become separated from the tire and propelled with great force therefrom. That is, the tire provided by the tire assembly may separate into multiple pieces and be ejected from the tire assembly under extremely high force, which poses a serious safety hazard to those individuals in and around the tire inflation cage. As such, the cage serves to retain fragments of the exploding tire, as well as to retain the rim or wheel as it separates from the tire within the cage so that they do not come into contact with any individuals who are nearby.
Unfortunately, while current tire inflation cages, such as that shown in FIG. 1, referred to by reference numeral 2, are designed to retain a tire assembly 3 that includes a tire 4 mounted on a wheel 5, such tire inflation cages 2 typically absorb the force imparted by the separation of the wheel 5 from the tire 4 by the tearing of retention members 6 or bars that form the cage 2 from the base 7 to which they are attached. Such occurrence is unsafe, as the openings 8 formed by the detachment of the bars from the base may allow the rim or wheel, or portions thereof, as well as portions of the tire, to be ejected completely from the cage. Furthermore, fragments of tearing metal could be released from the tire inflation cage itself, due to the tearing of the bars from the base, which could lead to injury to the eyes or other body part of the service technician or other nearby individual, which is unwanted.
Therefore, there is a need for a tire inflation cage that provides retention members that are attached to a base with support members, so as to increase the shear strength of the cage, so as to prevent the detachment of the retention members from the base when a tire assembly explodes during inflation.